You know how you’re watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and you see that there are 42 cars in the parking lot and then you realize that this movie is actually an allegory for the Holocaust? No? Well, my friend, then have I got the movie for you.
You know how you’re watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and you see that there are 42 cars in the parking lot and then you realize that this movie is actually an allegory for the Holocaust? No? Well, my friend, then have I got the movie for you.
Room 237 gathers five individuals (as we’re told, “a journalist, a professor, a musician, an artist and an erudite conspiracy hunter”) to give their own unique take on The Shining’s themes and subtexts. If you’re like me, you adore The Shining and recognize it as one of cinema’s few perfect movies. However, at the same time, I recognize that beneath the aura of sheer terror lurk symbols and themes that I cannot wrap my head around. Primarily, because I’m dumb.
I won’t divulge too many details or theories because that is the fun of this movie but it ranges from the subliminal messages laid throughout the movie to out and out conspiracy theories. It even explores the multiple inconsistencies throughout the film which I found particularly interesting. I firmly believe that Stanley Kubrick was a precise filmmaker and did not have a pencil on a desk that he did not want there. So when “inconsistencies” arise we are shown why they are likely not accidents. Some of the theories rely on the minutest of minutiae that you doubt to be true but you are gently reminded that if any filmmaker would be able to pull it off, it would be that bearded mastermind Stan Kubrick.
This movie is directed by a first time documentarian, Rodney Ascher, and this shines through in both good and bad ways. First, this is obviously a passion project and the care and thought put into it are apparent. Ascher and his team are clearly fascinated by this subject matter and want you to be too. The good news is that the majority of the time, you are.
However, as a first time feature director he does allow the movie to become scatter-brained at points and can lose the audience. The film has layouts, graphs, and maps of the hotel and really walks you through various scenes to support the theories. In some instances, such as when they discuss the “Impossible Window,” it really helps. However, in other instances it seems so intricate and over thought that you can envision the narrator’s room like a scene from A Beautiful Mind with walls full of pictures and red strings spider-webbing back and forth. Basically, a crazy person is talking and the director was too afraid to cut him off.
And speaking of the narrators, you never get to see them. It was an interesting choice but proves only to add to the confusion of the film as their voices rotate in and out and it is easy to confuse one with the other.
Also, I am sure you have wondered what the hell that man in the pig/bear costume towards the end of the movie represents, right? It is so iconic and yet still so mysterious. I have racked my dullard brain to no avail and this movie does not even mention it. Not once. Not even in passing. Wuck?
Upon leaving the screening my movie partner and I had plenty to talk about which alone proves that this movie did something right. We agreed on a lot and disagreed on a lot. My favorite theory was the Native American theory, which was her least favorite. Like The Shining itself, it just shows you how differently the movie can affect the individual.
If you love The Shining and have always wanted to dig a little deeper into the subtexts, then this movie is a must. I walked out of the screening with a whole new appreciation for The Shining and Kubrick himself. My movie partner walked out loving The Shining every bit as much as she did before but still believing that the subtext does not go deeper than Stanley Kubrick wanted to a make a super f***ing creepy movie and he succeeded. Either way, this movie forces you to re-examine a cinematic classic and serves as an excellent reminder of Kubrick’s genius.
Ben Tahija, reporting from the set of the Apollo 11 moon landing
Ben Tahija